Venice, Italy 2015

     Yes, we did just get back from Florida. I know Day and I are very fortunate, we vacation quite a bit, and appreciate all we have.

     What I appreciate most, are the people we meet, and friends we make as Day and I travel, through our lives together. And our trip to Florida, with Project Deep, did not disappoint. As I mentioned in my Florida post, I hadn't been on a Project Deep trip in many years, and it was great for me to rekindle some old friendships. And, there were plenty of new people who, I enjoyed getting to know, and spending time with. I am super happy I went, and am looking forward to making Project Deep a part of my life again, but shitttt, now we are off to Venice! 

     I am writing this as we sit in JFK airport at the Emirates airlines gate, I said we, but, Day is off getting a "vacation pedi" somewhere in the airport, as I write this. As I said, we are taking an Emirates  flight to Milan and then a train to Venice. Emirates is suppose to be pretty good, so we will see. The price of the ticket was amazing, $400.00 for a round trip, direct flight, yes you read that right. Emirates flies to Dubai and they stop in Milan, so when they can't fill their plane with passengers traveling to Dubai, they run specials to Milan.

     Well, we land in Milan, take a train to Venice, which I am excited about. I have never been on a train  ( you forgot your flash drive, you forgot your flash drive, you forgot your flash drive ). Does anyone not like The Big Bang Theory? Once in Venice, we will meet up with K & J and head to our apartment, The Tillys House, and vacation begins. We booked a tappa tour, pretty much a "Pub Crawl" for Tuesday afternoon. We thought this might be a nice way to get a lay of the land and orientate ourselves ( for those who are thinking that orientate is incorrect,  you have not been reading my blog ). The only plans we have after that are, meeting a couple who live just north of Venice, who we met a couple of years ago in Tuscany.

     My next post, will be from Venice, woohoo.

Ciao bella

A great week of diving

     We were spoiled. That's right, the weather was perfect, sea conditions were fantastic and diving, spectacular!

Pictures of North Beach, the name of one of the two beaches in the campground we stayed at, the other is of course,  South Beach.

About 70 people were on this trip, 50 of whom were students. The students were assigned an instructor,  here is Day's group. What a fantastic week they had, conditions were, dare I say, perfect.

So our day starts at Ocean Divers, and, on the Santana.

On the boat, and head out to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

A little pre dive brief from Day before jumping in.

And, the pool is open...

The seas were flat, water was warm, the visibility was good, what more could we ask for?

Day says these are Pork Fish, not sure if she knows what she is talking about, but the pictures are pretty good. To be honest, Day knows her fish.

Hey look, we found a boat, a shipwreck.

Above is the bow of the Benwood.

SCUBA Steve 

Day

Back to the surface, on the boat, and off to our next dive site.

If any of Day's group is reading this, you should know, I think you guys did great, and it was fun diving with you guys.

Diving with turtles, also pretty freakin good.

All these pictures, are taken with a Nikon Coolpix 120 AW.

The camera is waterproof to 59 ft.
as is, with no underwater housing.

What a beautiful animal.

And as quickly as the turtle showed up, it leaves. Don't bother trying to chase it, you will lose.

We saw a lot of cool stuff underwater. The diving was fantastic,  but the real highlight of these trips, are the people. It is always good to see old friends, but equally as good to meet new ones.

Seventy people,  one common interest, multiple friendships renewed and made, some lives changed forever, welcome to Project Deep. 

"No reason to be sad, no reason to cry, we can always come back, for Key Lime Pie."
SPK

Interstate 95...forever

    Two vans, each pulling a trailer, 13 people and Interstate 95 south, for the next 26 hrs, can only mean one thing, Spring Break in Key Largo, Florida with Project Deep.

     The 13 of us will be arriving Saturday, and the rest of the seventy plus people (mostly college students hoping to become certified SCUBA divers) will be arriving Sunday. It's been more than 10 years since I have been on this trip, but I am sure not much has changed. We will make our way to the Key Largo Kampground  (did I forget to mention we are camping ) set up a few tents so we have a place to sleep on Saturday night (some are lucky enough to get a trailer) and then head out to Hobo's for happy hour and their chicken wings. The next day, Sunday, we will finish setting up the 15-20 tents, and as the students meander in, they will be given their sleeping assignments, SCUBA gear, and find out who their instructors will be for the week. For some, Spring Break in Key Largo will be a week during their nonage that will change their lives forever, and they don't even know it.

     Dramatic? Absolutely not! I went on my first Spring Break in 1998, I did not know it then, but I met my future wife. I did not know then, that many of those people, would be my friends 17 years later. On a whim, I took a SCUBA class at UMass. Project Deep, SCUBA and those people I met on Spring break 98 have shaped my life, changed me in ways I couldn't have imagined 17 years ago, it will do the same for some these kids, exciting!

     A broken van? I was right, not much has changed from my days of Project Deep. My wife takes the second leg of the drive, after stopping for fuel, and five minutes in, the van dies. After being kicked out of the driver's seat (because it must have been her fault) we teased her about driving the shit out of her 5 minute leg, and, the van dies again. We are hoping it is bad gas, and some fuel conditioner will solve the problem, for now, we continue on, and hope for the best.

     Happily, we made it to the end of our second leg (about a 4 hour drive) with no more issues, so was it my wife's fault? She is behind the wheel again, determined to redeem herself. There is however a new storm brewing, a lollygagger. Two vans, with 12 people ready to get back on the road, while the 13th person,  is screwing around in the bathroom, getting food, or shopping for whichever stupid refrigerator magnet reflects the state we are now in. Whatever they are doing, it's always the same one, it won't last long though, there are a few that won't put up with this disregard for our punctilious family. Anyhow, back on the road, my wife and I up front, our five companions, asleep. My wife listens to an audio book downloaded free to my phone, with my electronic library card, while I write my post, using the same phone, not sure how we survived without these before, anyhow, this is how the next 4 or 5 hours will go, hopefully,  painfully boring.

     Yes, the van is broken.

     After Mine and my wife's leg of the trip, we retired to the back of the van for some sleep,  and someone (Shawn was driving, just saying) busted the van. We pulled into a Ford dealership about 4 am, and slept there until they opened at 7:30, and here we wait.

      Back on the road, after ten hours at the dealership. The first diagnosis was an injector module, $800.00, then possibly the wiring harness. Either way, we left without the van, and rented two mini vans, to replace it. No freakin Hobo's tonight, how do I know this? My van won't stop talking about missing Hobo's and chicken wings. Making it to the Florida state line seems like it should be exciting, however, that only means we have another seven hours to go, and I, have another seven hours of hearing about the chicken wings we are not going to get tonight.

     This is a good time to publish this post. With now only four hours to go, how much more can happen? We will get to the campground about 2 am, probably the longest trip down, that I can remember. We left Friday at 1, and are getting here Sunday at 2 am, 37 hrs on 95 south.

Spring break in Key Largo, Florida

Spring break in Key Largo, Florida with Project Deep

     In about a week, my wife and I will be going to Key Largo with Project Deep. Why am I writing a post a week before the trip, and, what is Project Deep? I am writing a post a week before the trip because, spring break with Project Deep in Key Largo, needs some background information, it is not your normal vacation. 

     Project Deep is a nonprofit organization providing SCUBA instruction to students in the five college area of Western Mass. Every semester Project Deep teaches students from Hampshire, Amherst, Smith and Umass. how to dive, and brings them  to Rockport, Ma. to do their check-out dives, and they earn credit for this! For extra credit, you can go to sunny Key Largo on your winter or spring break, and, earn extra credit! I tease, but truth be told, it is a fantastic organization that works tirelessly to introduce and teach many, the joy of SCUBA diving, and for some, it changes their lives (plenty of stories on that subject). This undertaking can only be done with many committed people, multiple instructors and TA's, but in charge of it all, Dave, and I think in charge of  Dave, there is his wife Mary. Dave and Mary are also owners of  Cape Ann Divers, a dive shop in Gloucester, Ma. 

     Now I don't know how long Dave has been doing this, but he is wicked old, so I think for a long time. Dave's students, some of his students, become TA's, some TA's, become instructors, and they just don't go away, so over the years, a family, one big dis-functional family has formed. I think they call themselves "DEEPies."

     I say "they," but I think I am one also. I took SCUBA class at Umass in the fall of 97, I was a 30 year old under graduate (which is the only way to do it). During class, my instructor Steve, and I became friends, and I had my eye on a hot little red-head, so I became a TA, determined to date her, and later, we married. She became an instructor, and is still teaching for Project Deep 17 years later. So if I am not a "DEEPie," I married one and Steve and I are still friends, along with many others.

     My first trip to Key Largo was winter break 98, not sure when the last time was that I went, has to be at least 10 years ago. I don't know what happened, graduated, bought a home and thought I needed to grow up? Did I think there was no place for Project Deep in a grown up life? What I do know, is some of my fondest memories are when I was in college, and many of those are the years I spent diving with Project Deep. I met many great people, many of whom I have traveled with, and many who are still my friends. Why am I going on Spring Break, maybe I just miss my family.

     So, Dave and Mary, My wife and I, who will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year, Steve and many other instructors, plus TA's will be bringing 50 college students, with raging hormones down to Key Largo on Spring Break. Sleeping in tents, in a campground, diving in the morning, and nothing to do but get into trouble at night. So I thought a blog post might be fun! Keep a look-out for some interesting posts from Key Largo, Florida.

Read the blog, don't be a puss!

Final morning in New Hampshire

     Our last day in the White Mountains consisted of breakfast, packing and a 4 hour ride home. We slept in, had coffee in bed and read to each other. Showered and was looking forward to breakfast and their creme brulee french toast! There is something great about breakfast out, seems just a little better than lunch and dinner out. I think it is someone bringing you coffee and food, when your still half asleep. After breakfast, back to our room to pack.

     Not much to tell now, a four hour ride home, pretty boring. Along the way though, I took a couple more pics, not the ones I was looking for, so I guess we need to go back!

Mount Washington Resort

Day 2 of our weekend in the White Mountains

     Saturday morning came pretty quickly for my wife and I, it was hard to drag our butts out of bed, but managed to get to breakfast by 8:30. Breakfast was ok, average, which is perfectly fine with me. I love food, and I love great food (I hate the term "foodie") but breakfast on a Saturday morning, before hiking, I didn't need anything special, just eggs, bacon, home fries and toast. We packed a bunch of water and snacks, including my favorite, carrot sticks, for a day of hiking.

     Now when I say carrot sticks, I do not mean the over priced bag of baby carrots, go out and buy a five pound bag of carrots, I like mine pealed, I cut them into sticks, put them in a Tupperware bowl filled with water and leave in the fridge, they will stay fresh and crispy for at least a week. They are cheaper and taste way better than the baby carrots, which are not baby carrots anyhow.

     We headed off to Tin Mountain, about a five minute ride from our inn. The staff at our inn said Tin Mountain was good snowshoeing/hiking and provided great views. My wife and I are novice hiker, actually we are novice exercisers, if I were being truthful, but what we lack in ability, we make up for in stupidity and stubbornness. We agreed to go to the summit (stupid) and given the fact, neither of us would ever tell the other we quit (stubborn) we set off for the summit. It was actually not that bad, the weather was perfect and the trail was a good mix of easy, medium and hard levels. Now I am not sure how true hikers would describe it, or what lingo they would use, so I have included a great blog post from some guy who calls himself "1happyhiker." This guy does a nice job describing the trails and posting pics, I started thinking, my blog needs a lot of work after reading his. I do think I got a few decent pics though...

My beautiful wife.      

  

So my wife and I hiked for about 4 hours, and then searched for lunch. We found a decent place north, in Gorham, sorry Tara, Saalt Pub was closed. On the drive back to our inn, I made my wife stop every 5 min, in search of the perfect picture, she loves when I do that. No perfect pictures,  but I got some good ones.

     I love taking photos, looking for the perfect subject, great composition and color, and then find the perfect picture, in the picture, and crop it. Not that I am saying these are great mind you. The real trick is to take a crappie picture, and turn it into something good. So, my day of snowshoeing with my wife, was a great success, we had fun together, and enjoyed each other's company. Life is good when your spouse is your best friend.

     So we headed back to the inn, I for one, was looking forward to the hot tub! Hot tub, shower and then dinner. Again, we got dressed up, my wife in a nice black dress, with some really hot shoes, and me in my new suit! Dinner was good, we were very happy with the food at the inn, and again, the wait staff was great. But, the real star of dinner was not the food, or dessert, or the staff, but, our St.Germain and Champagne Cocktail. We ordered dessert and the recommended pairing for my wife's dessert was a, St. Germain Champagne Cocktail. It is, by far, the best after dinner drink I have had! I hope you try it, I am sure you will love it as well.